Chapter 4:

Two months had passed since he decided to invest his money and his intuition, and residual foresight, had proven him right. So right in fact that the accountant which was there to council him on his decisions was nearly floored by the success of his seemingly farfetched investments. Even though he had strongly advised him against many of his decision in the end, his determination and his gut feeling had won.

Now he had a constant stream of revenue and the occasional boost from selling and trading which while, not enough to fully sustain his previous lifestyle filled with luxury and fine delicacies was adequate to finance the rather meagre one that he had adapted for the time being.
And he was optimistic that it would be only a short while until he could once again enjoy life to its fullest extent, because he would be damned if he had to live on instant noodles and cheap takeout for longer than necessary. He wasn't quite sure how long his body could deal with this kind of diet now that he was no longer blessed with immortality and had a failing heart to boot.

It truly was a humble life that he lived now, especially when compared to his old life. His apartment was a small but clean and orderly with a lovely view of another high rise building , his wardrobe reduced to a few off the rack suits and shirts and his furniture consisted of a bed, a small couch and a simple shelf, a table and a two chairs. A bathroom and kitchen filled out the rest of his rooms. They weren't pretty but functional, which was his main concern at the moment.

Getting the apartment was easier than he imagined it would be. His new landlord, and by the gods did it feel weird to call someone else that after being independent for centuries, was more than happy to give it to him. Apparently being an "older gentleman", as the blubbery man had called him, with a visible disability, respectable degree and steady income source gave him an advantage over the rest of interested parties even though he had told the man that he did not intend to stay longer than a few months.
That he offered the man a few tips on property law should he ever be in need of some legal advice had also greased the wheels.
It had felt good the finally be able to make a proper deal again that involved more than "you drive me, I pay you".

He had debated with himself if he should seek out his sons old home but the memories of his dear boy that he had failed in so many ways had prevented him from taking that step.
Maybe now it would house some young family or another young man or woman with great dreams about the freedom one could find in this city.
These people where honoring his sons memory more by existing than he ever could so he hoped that it really was a bright young soul that lived there now. A man could dream…

However, those thoughts were chased away by his buzzing phone lying on the table.
He really hated that small meddlesome device but it was a necessity even more than carrier pigeons had been in the Enchanted Forest. At least those blasted birds only brought worthwhile information or desperate pleas for help and not some useless drivel about which so-called "celebrity" decided to pump their face full of toxins.

The reason that his phone was annoying him right now was his daily reminder to take a walk around the neighborhood and through the city.
He wasn't able to visit a doctor just yet so he had made the decision to get a bit of daily exercise in the form of walks.

Many would scoff at the idea and suggest a gym or something like that but he always found those places to be terribly unsanitary and his body image and self-esteem weren't particularly high enough to visit those places.
He would be a cripple among young people and he didn't need to be remembered of his own failing body.
So walks around the city it would be, they were also great ways to get familiar with his new surroundings.

Stepping out of his apartment, he put on a friendly smile he made his way over to the elevator that would take him down to the ground floor. A place on the fifth floor would otherwise been hell if not for the trusty metal box that brought him up or down.
The smile was one of those things that came a lot more natural to him these days, though it had taken a lot of practice. In the beginning, it he had used it to make a good impression on the neighbors and to fit in with the crowd in low activity areas since a frown seemed to be some sort of invitation to ask him "Everything all right there man?"

And that question dragged all his sorrows, regrets and his self-loathing to the surface of his mind. Those feeling that crushed him at night when sleep would elude him had no place in the bright light of the day and so to avoid that whole conundrum he had just started to smile more often.
The inhabitants of the city still had some strange urge to have small talk all the time, a phenomenon that he would once have attributed to some sort of curse or spell but these people seemed to genuinely enjoyed the act of talking with strangers.

The elevator ride was smooth and without interruption. Stepping out of the elevator a saw one of his upstairs neighbors which he greeted with a simple "Hello there dearie."
"Ah, Mr. Gold!" the elderly woman returned with a smile on her face, "once again out on the town, hm?"
He liked her, she was a very kind woman that most importantly didn't make much noise apart from the occasional sound of the vacuum cleaner.
"You know me Mrs. Heatherfield", he laughed, "one can't be too idle!"

He crossed the room while she was muttering something good-natured about "young people these days." If that woman would know he was, more than three time her senior she would probably go into cardiac arrest.
He turned his gaze down the street and he thought to himself one really can't be to idle as he planned to combine his trip with a visit at a real estate agency he had found during a session of online research.
Having a landlord really didn't feel right…